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Desktop Metal, a serial production additive manufacturing (AM) solutions provider, has qualified the use of 4140 low alloy steel for the Production System platform, which leverages patent-pending Single Pass Jetting ( SPJ) designed to achieve the fastest increase speeds in the metal additive manufacturing industry.
Desktop Metal is the first and only company to qualify 4140 low alloy steel for use with metal binder blasting systems, enabling its use in mass production end use part applications.
Considered one of the most versatile low alloy steels, 4140 is an essential, heat-treatable all-purpose steel widely used in a variety of automotive, oil and gas, and industrial applications, such as gears, components down-the-hole tools, couplings, pins, bolts and nuts, and many other mechanical parts.
Power steering seal. Source: Office metal.
4140 has been a difficult material for metal binder jetting due to its low alloy content, stringent carbon control requirements, and low ignition energy, which together require advanced binder chemistry, as well as extensive optimization of printing and sintering and atmospheric controls for safe processing.
We are delighted to be the first to qualify 4140 for Metal Binder Jetting to enable this versatile material for the AM industry. With the speed of the production system, companies can now use the binder jet to print complex 4140 parts at competitive costs while maintaining the strength and mechanical properties of traditionally manufactured alternatives. This is a revolutionary solution for manufacturers who have been linked with long and expensive machining and conventional tool-based manufacturing processes.
—Jonah Myerberg, co-founder and CTO of Desktop Metal
Desktop Metal’s material science team has validated that 4140 low alloy steel printed on production system technology and sintered by Desktop Metal meets MPIF 35 standards for structural powder metallurgy parts defined by Metal Powder. Industries Federation.
4140 parts printed on the production system platform not only eliminate tooling use and minimize material waste, but also represent a significant decrease in production time and part cost compared to conventional manufacturing methods .
Examples of applications:
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Power steering seal. This joint is used for the transfer of power between an electric power steering motor and the steering shaft in an automobile. 4140 offers excellent strength and hardness, which is essential for the fluted teeth that connect this part to the rest of its assembly. While production using a conventional press and sintering process would require an expensive mold, the P-50 production system enables tool-less production, reducing lead times and allowing more flexible design for quantities. going up to 1.2 million per year at a fully loaded part cost as as low as $ 2.45.
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Herringbone gear. Herringbone gears, found in a variety of industrial machine applications, benefit from the excellent hardness of 4140 low alloy steel and can be lightened using complex lattice designs made possible by the additive manufacturing, reducing the cost of materials and the wear and tear of external components, such as motors and bearings. This part can be mass produced on the P-50 production system in quantities of up to 200,000 per year with 120 nested parts in each build.
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Linear pneumatic piston. Linear pneumatic pistons are used to convert air pressure into rotary motion through a rack and pinion with 4140 providing the toughness and wear resistance required for this application. These parts are traditionally assembled from multiple components due to the geometry and cost limitations of conventional manufacturing processes. The P-50 production system can produce up to 690,000 parts per year at a cost as low as $ 0.28 per cubic centimeter of sintered 4140 low alloy steel.
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Drive lever. Lever drives are often used in machine design to linearly adjust the location of components in a machine. The binder jet easily facilitates features such as precise grooves essential for locating the correct position of external components. Although producing an average volume of 10,000 parts would not be cost effective with conventional manufacturing given the initial tooling costs or labor costs associated with machining, the P-50 production system can print the quantities required in one day with sintered parts ready. in less than a week.
The production system. Created by the inventors of inkjet and single-pass inkjet technology, the production system is an industrial manufacturing platform powered by Desktop Metal’s SPJ technology. It is designed to achieve speeds up to 100 times faster than traditional powder bed fusion additive manufacturing technologies and enable production quantities of up to millions of parts per year at competitive costs compared to conventional mass production techniques.
The production system platform consists of two printer models: the P-1, a solution for process development and mass production applications, and the P-50, a mass production solution to large form factor for end-use parts, scheduled to launch into commercial shipments in the second half of 2021.
The production system combines Desktop Metal engineered binders with an open materials platform, allowing customers to produce high performance parts using the same low cost metal powders used in the metal injection molding industry. (MIM). An inert processing environment allows compatibility with a variety of materials, including 4140 low alloy steel as well as other high performance alloys and even reactive metals, such as aluminum and titanium.
Today, the Production System platform material library includes 17-4 PH stainless steel, 316L stainless steel, and 4140 low alloy steel, each qualified by Desktop Metal. The platform also supports several materials qualified by customers, including silver and gold, and Desktop Metal plans to add additional metals to its portfolio, including tool steels, stainless steels, superalloys. , copper, etc.
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